Treat Your Mom to a Fantastic 4 Course Brunch …

or just pick a choose a few of your favourite recipes! Over the next two weeks we’re going to be sending all of the recipes to our Breakfast with the Broads newsletter subscribers. If you want to get every one – make sure you’re getting the free recipe newsletter. We will be featuring a few of our favourite recipes right here too!

I was looking out the window this evening and couldn’t believe the number of birds at the feeders. Because it was dusk it was difficult to get pictures of all the feeders on the front deck, but we managed to get a few of the closest three feeders.

We have mostly Rufous (rusty brown) Hummingbirds but there are a few Annas (green) that are around.

They started showing up on March 11 where we first noticed them flying around in circles around the deck overhang where we hang out the feeders. There was only a couple the first day but they have been increasing steadily since then.

There is a group that have been out for a couple of times the past couple of years to band the birds. It is quite a process. I have pictures of the banding process so I will track down the pictures and put them up on a later day. Fior now I want you to be able to see the short video Rick took this evening.

Easter Brunch Menu:

Yesterday we featured the mixed berry breakfast shake. Today, we have the apple galette for you … an amazingly easy yet delicious fruit dish that will have your family’s admiration and appreciation!

Apple Galette

A galette is a flat crust of pastry dough filled, in this recipe, with apples and a bit of sugar and cinnamon. I use thawed and flattened frozen pastry crusts just for the ease of having them on hand and basically ready to use. It makes it quicker in the morning!

What you need:

3 Tablespoons Butter

4 Tablespoons Sugar

1/4 teaspoon Cinnamon

2 large firm Apples, cored, peeled, sliced 1/8″ thick

Hint: When you take the pie crust out of the foil plate put the dough on parchment paper on a baking sheet to flatten – then build the galette and bake.

What you do:

1. Preheat oven to 425oF.
2. Roll dough to about a 12″ round and then lightly brush it with softened butter.
3. Mix the sugar and cinnamon together and sprinkle half of it over the dough.
4. Next layer the apple slices in an overlapping concentric circle leaving about a 1″ border from the outer edge.
5. Sprinkle remaining sugar mix on the apples.
6. Gently fold the edge over the apples towards the center.

7. Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350oF and bake until pastry is golden brown another 20 to 30 minutes.

Easter made a surprise attack on me! Julie’s been asking me for an Easter menu for awhile but I didn’t realize that it was THIS WEEK!

When I finally finished up the menu for our Breakfast with the Broads newsletter readers and gave it to Julie I said “so we’ll send one this week with the menu, and then send two recipes next week and the last two the week after”. And Julie smartly replied, “Sure, if we want people to use them for Mother’s Day instead of Easter.”

That’s when she informed me that Easter is in fact this weekend!! So, I am sorry that I’m so far behind – funny how time really does ‘hop’ by.

On my walk back to the house last week I found an interesting Arbutus branch on the side of the road. If it hasn’t blown away in the last few days, I think I will give it a quick rub and see if it turns into an Easter Tree.

I first saw my first Easter Tree about five years ago. I asked “What is an Easter Tree?” It is a tradition that originated in Germany. The family would decorate, either a branch inside or a tree outside, with brightly colored easter eggs and decorations. Some do it to add color as they decorate for Easter

Sprayed Branch

festivities while others find significance in the 40 days of Lent by daily hanging one egg and reading scripture. It is one of those traditions that has been handed down through many generations. Although in past the decorated eggs, ornaments or scriptures were handmade most today are ‘reusable’ from year to year being made of plaster, plastic, wood or paper.

(It could be a great project for children to cut out and decorate eggs shaped from construction paper, or to decorate boiled eggs for the Easter Tree.)

The Base

Find a fallen branch that appeals to you. Do you want it to sit on the floor, a top the table? This will determine how large you want it. If you want a modern/minimal look keep it straight with branches fairly clean, and curving up (or straight out if you have a housebound Norfolk Pine tree). A more traditional look would be fuller with many twists, turns and ‘kinks’. Think of what you will use or make to decorate your tree as this will determine the size and strength you will need.

Now it is time to start the creative process. Will you leave it au naturel, or strip some or all of the bark, give it a rub with sand paper, oil it or even paint it to suit your decor? Paint is optional and of course could be one color or many colors. Remember this is your tree and it is your whimsy so have fun with it.

Next we need a container to anchor the tree. It needs to be something that will safely hold the tree and its decorations in place so it should have a bit of weight. You can use sand or rocks to hold it in place if it is larger. I have collected a few rocks and some granite eggs on trips (Rick loves it when I bring home rocks -even if they are shaped and polished. He just shakes his head and asks if I could find something a bit heavier!) I will use them at the base.

Now it is on to the ornamentation. This can be whatever you wish to use. I have some little Easter ornaments but you can make your own. Use decorated boiled eggs, blown eggs, construction paper eggs, yarn eggs, cottonball bunnies, felt chicks, flowers, origami birds etc. Or if you are going for minimal perhaps just the tree anchored in a basket without further decoration.

Here is my tree. HAPPY EASTER!

Happy Easter!

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